MONTHLY SUMMARY: FEBRUARY 1996 UPDATED: 3-16-96 CORRECTION: Thanks to Bob Keehn of Brevard, NC who noted that the AVL snowfall amount on the ACON data report for January looked very odd (on the mailed version of this report)! I thought 0.1" of snow for JAN 96 was odd too. However, I failed to check it out! The report on which I relied was for DEC 1995 and was in the Weather-Brief folder for monthly summaries, 1996. All other station summaries in the folder were for JAN 1996. --------------- Well, will keep this brief as I've been dealing with your data all morning and am now more squirrely-brained than ever! That data will get to ya' after a while! However, I enjoy looking at it and noting differentiations and similarities. Looks like the unusually cold, snowy winter of 1995-1996 is about over! Most of us enjoyed temperatures this past week (3-10-96) into the 70's to around 80. Nevertheless, memories of the past winter will live on and those events will not likely be equaled for some time, although we know unusual weather will always be seen year-in-year-out around us. Noted quite a few below zero (0) temps for February '96. Don't recall seeing that many so widespread, even down into western and north-central NC! Snow totals continued to set new records- daily, monthly, seasonal, all-time! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTES FROM "AROUND THE LEAGUE"- Arlington - WBC noted that although it was statistically a fairly normal month, February had some wild temp swings and even a few wild snowstorms! Bridgewater - Clayton Towers reports: "February was rather quiet compared to January. The biggest event was the seven-inch snowstorm on the third. The total snowfall for the winter so far is 43.35 inches. This is the most snowfall for any winter season for the last 32 years, which is the extent of my record-keeping on snows. Areas to the south have received much more. The really big snowstorms seem to elude Bridgewater. The -16 degrees on the fifth was a record low. My record-keeping on temperatures goes back 37 years." Centreville - You can view Paul Bassett's weather center and instrumentation using your graphical browser at our Internet address!! These are color photos of the ones I sent you last month. Charlottesville - According to John Stewart, February was a rather strange month! When it was wintry, it was WINTRY with a vengeance. Lowest Feb. temp I have seen since 1954. Second greatest monthly snowfall and that put us over the top for most seasonal snowfall (52.3")! (also at McCormick Observatory since 1899) Oddly, snow fell in February on only 3 days! Falls Church - Lowell Koontz's article on measuring snowfalls is reproduced for you and also has been placed at the ACON site on the Internet: http://www.infi.net/~bsmoot/acon.htm The first two-thirds of the month was cold with a record minimum of -2 degrees on the 5th. The month experienced near normal precip but snowfall was 14.3" above normal the most since 1983 when 23.2" fell (current record). Fredericksburg - Notes from Ken McKneely: The fact that the monthly temps averaged very close to normal is very misleading. The 1st 7 days of the month averaged a bitter 18.1 degrees, while the last 7 averaged a balmy 51.4 degrees. The station's all-time low of -16 degrees was set on the 5th. The monthly high of 75 degrees on the 25th completed a 91 degree swing, yet another record! The 1st 5 days of the month remained below freezing. The 21st through 28th failed to drop to freezing. 2 consecutive months with over 18 inches of snow. Fredericksburg - Matt Michaelson reports: ---SIGNIFICANT WEATHER EVENT--- Feb. 20-24, 1996. I don't want to write another summary about snow. So, I'll write about the dense fog that formed during the A.M. night and early morning hours on Feb. 20-24. A dense fog advisory was issued for each of the mornings of Feb. 21-23. Dense fog on those mornings reduced visibilities to less than 0.2 mile. On the other two mornings, the dense fog reduced visibilities to between 0.2 and 0.5 mile. Daytime conditions each day were cloudy. On Feb. 20, heavy rain dumped 0.55 inch of precipit ation during the afternoon. On Feb. 22, persistent light rain measured 0.34 inch. On Feb. 24, the sun finally shone, and the dense fog streak ended. Hampton - Dave Kessel reports, "1 inch or more of snow on the ground for 9 days. I have had 16 days this winter of snow depth 1 inch or more. This is only second to 1980. My total snowfall thus far is third behind 1989 (around 22") and 1980 (around 42"). Three major events occurred this month: 1- major ice storm on the 2nd; 2- heavy snow on the morning of the 4th; and 3- heavy snow on the late afternoon and evening of the 16th." Hardwick Mountain - Chris Hovanic answered my question about where his station was located in reference to the rest of us. "Look for Orange or preferably Barboursville. If you find Barboursville, Hardwick Mountain is 1-2 miles northwest. From Orange 12 miles SSW. From Gordonsville 5-6 miles ENE." Herndon - Interestingly, Robert Beall summarizes February: "A transition month. Psuedo spring, then winter-like jolt, then a period of tropical air." Louisa - On February 5th, the Taylor minimum-maximum read -24 degrees! This is the lowest reading that John Bullock has had in the 64 years of recording temps. Several neighbors called to say the had -24 and -27 degrees readings. The previous record was -13 in February 1935 and in January 1987. Mechanicsville - The temperature fell to -6 degrees at Glenn Martin's station on the 4th as a strong arctic air mass entered the region. Norfolk - The highlight of the month- according to NWS ORF- was the freezing rain, snow, and ice event on the 2nd and 3rd. The snowfall for the season (17.2) had nearly doubled the average (8.9). Portsmouth - On Friday the 2nd, I walked out on my upper deck and about slid over the railing! Very light rain had begun in the wee hours and was just enough to cause problems on above ground surfaces. Bridges too were becoming slick. Since the wind completely died-off during this time, all anemometers- including the R. M. Young aerovane- froze solid and remained such through the following Tuesday afternoon! By the time noon (FRI) arrived, electricity was flickering at work and by 3:00 PM our school in Chesapeake was completely dark with back-up power totally consumed some one-half hour after the lights went out. Outside, one-half inch of glaze had accumulated everywhere with many fallen limbs, some trees, and power outages to over 125,000 households, one of which was mine! Was forced by 8 PM to check-in at the Days Inn about one-half mile away. I spent the next 48 hours there. Felines (2), finches, and parakeets (including 6 babies!) survived temps in the 30's inside the house. Unfortunately, I lost all tropical fish. By early Saturday- the 3rd- freezing drizzle was followed by heavy sleet for two hours which became snow that lasted until mid-afternoon Saturday, mostly as flurries. Another band of heavier snow developed in the early morning hours of Sunday (yes, more wrap-around!) necessitating a heavy snow/winter storm warning when more snow fell on top of the previous glaze, sleet, and snow. School did not reopen until the following Thursday as secondary roads/backstreets remained icy. In Chesapeake, there are many such roads/streets. Roanoke - Wendell Prillaman notes: Another very snowy month! Our 17-inch total for the month is 10.6" above the average of 6.4" But very surprisingly after the very cold first 5 days of February, the month averaged 0.9 degrees above normal. Warmest high for date on record for February 25th at 74... old record was 69 in 1977. February 26th record high of 79, old record was 78 in 1977; February 27th record high of 74 with old record 73 in 1977. Brevard - Bob Keehn reported via e-mail that February was cooler then the average for 1990-1994, just like February 1995. Rainfall was below normal. Charlotte - According to Billy Brown: "On the 2nd, rain changed to freezing rain during the evening producing glaze «" to 3/8" in thickness. Ice load combined with high wind gusts brought down many trees which fell across power lines causing the biggest power outage since Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Three days- during which the temp remained below freezing- followed resulting in this ice storm being dubbed, "a cold Hugo." On the 16th, a surprise snowfall dropped 0.7" during the morning. Snow melted rapidly after noon. Henderson - February started out real bad, says George Stevenson, bud did wind-up slightly above normal. The first part of the month was below normal with the last part above normal. Rain for the month was slightly below normal. This winter, snow was on the ground a total of 20 days, the record being 21 days set in 1948. Raleigh - Bob Woodson noted a great weather month! Freezing rain, sleet, and snow on the 2nd caused widespread power outages. Lots of tree limbs and trees came crashing down. All-time February low at RDU was 0 degrees. At his station he recorded a -1 degree low. This is the coldest he has recorded since locating in the Raleigh area in August of 1985. Raleigh - NWS RDU noted that even though the average temp was about normal for the month, the daily highs and lows were quite extreme with the first part of the month well below normal and the latter part well above normal. A record high of 74 was noted on the 25th while a record low of 0 was noted on the 5th. Several record low maximum temps were set during the 3rd-5th as temps did not exceed 24 degrees. Roxboro - "February had periodic alternations between extremes: cold to mild; from cold to warm; then back to cold at the end of the month. The month was a reminder of what winter "used to be." (Editor's note: AMEN Merriell!!) (report from Merriell Jay) Greenville-Spartanburg - February was an atypical month mixed with warm and cold periods lasting for several days at a time. A major ice storm was noted on the first three days. Power outages were noted for several days as a result of the storm. Despite the unusual month, few records were broken. Ruby - Franklin Hancock is bouncing-back from illness. He submitted two monthly summaries with the January data updated on the Internet. He noted for February that the winter storms which came early in the month were very severe and produced cold weather. A low of 8 degrees was note with was the coldest reading in quite some time at his station. The latter part of the month was very mild. Rainfall was lighter this month than in February. Hope you continue to improve Franklin! Wilmington - The big weather story for the month was the winter storm of the first weekend with freezing rain that paralyzed much of the city. Near record cold was noted on the 5th and 6th with lows of 11 and 18 degrees respectively. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATED MEMBERS' E-MAIL ADDRESSES: (posted by permission) BRE Bob Keehn robertk891@aol.com BRI Clayton Towers Ctowers@rica.net POR Bill Trotter wtrotter@pen.k12.va.us 71470.1535@compuserve.com wtrotter@whro.org FRD Matthew Michaelson mmichael@mwc.edu RAL Bob Woodson woods@usa.pipeline.com CEN Paul Bassett III pbassett@nmaa.org -----------------------------------------------------------------------------